Global Heritage Press

HARDCOVER EDITION

The Parish Register of Kingston, Upper Canada 1785-1811
Originally published by British Whig Publishing Company, Limited 1921 

An invaluable reference for those with roots in early Kingston (Frontenac) and area.

From the introduction: "The Parish Register of Kingston kept by the Revd. John Stuart, the first missionary of the Church of England in this Province, covers the years 1785 to 1811, the whole period of his rectorship. Defective though it is in places, by reason of the loss of two pages and the forgetfulness of the Rector in the matter of transcribing entries from the note-books in which he made them originally, the Register is still intensely interesting. Not only was it the first such register to be kept in Upper Canada, but it recorded in large numbers the names of inhabitants of the Province other than those whose domicile was in Kingston, the Rector, as a missionary and as Bishop's Official, travelling up and down between Point au Bodet and the Onondaga reserve on the Grand River, to preach and baptize, to perform marriages and bury the dead.

Important though Kingston was from the time of the coming of the Loyalists, and even before that, this its earliest Register has, it can thus be seen, an interest which far transcends the limits of the city. In the marriages can be traced, as perhaps in no other Register, not excepting even those of Niagara, York, or Ernesttown and Fredericksburg, the beginnings of the famous "Family Compact."

Military men, Naval officers, judges, magistrates, members of the Legislature, doctors, merchants, traders, farmers are all found, whether they were Loyalists or French-Canadians, immigrants from the British Isles or from the United States, or loyal Mohawk Indians. Among the Loyalists appear German names in abundance with a few which seem to be of Dutch origin. The religious affiliations were probably as various as the nationalities and as the countries whence the settlers came".

Contents include:

• Preface Pages
• Introduction
• The First Rector
• The First St. George's Church
• The Benefactors
• Notes on the Benefactors
• Church Wardens
• Vestry Men
• Clerks and "Saxtons"
• Pewholders 1794-1811
• Baptisms
• Marriages
• Funerals

Illustrations:

• The First St. George's Church
• Portraits of Dr. and Mrs. John Stuart